World News - Property boom threatens old Beijing Traditional home sells for £7.1m in part of the city once shunned by rich

In a dank alleyway in the old quarter of Beijing is a half-renovated house with a gaping hole where the roof should be. It has no garden or pool and had, until recently, only a few modern amenities. But this traditional courtyard home has just been sold for 110m yuan (about £7.1m) - thought to be a record for a residential property in Beijing. It is the latest sign of rising incomes, changing tastes and growing inequality as the capital undergoes a pre-Olympic housing boom that puts even London in the shade. Despite government measures to cool growth, the Beijing housing sector has never been hotter. According to the local media, average prices in the city increased by almost 10% in February. Estate agents claim many luxury homes have doubled in value in three years. Until a few years ago, most speculators focused on modern apartments in inner-city tower blocks and new villas in the suburbs. But the record-breaking home is an old-style siheyuan (courtyard) in the ... http://www.guardian.co.uk

Over the past six months, American troops have died in Iraq at the highest rate since the war began, an indication that the conflict is becoming increasingly dangerous for U.S. forces even after more than four years of fighting. From October 2006 through last month, 532 American soldiers were killed, the most during any six-month period of the war. March also marked the first time that the U.S. military suffered four straight months of 80 or more fatalities. April, with at least 58 service members killed through Monday, is on pace to be one of the deadliest months of the conflict for American forces. Senior American military officials attribute much of the increase to the Baghdad security crackdown, now in its third month. But the rate of fatalities was increasing even before a more aggressive strategy began moving U.S. troops from heavily fortified bases into smaller neighborhood outposts throughout the capital, placing them at greater risk of roadside bombings and small-arms attacks....http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17087215.htm

At least 69 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 39 more Iraqis were injured in violent attacks today. Six American soldiers were also reported killed in separate events in Iraq. It was also a politically interesting day with protests coming from both followers of Moqtada al-Sadr and the residents of Basra. Three GIs were reported killed today: An explosively formed projectile killed the first soldier in a southern Baghdad neighborhood. Another soldier died in a roadside bomb attack, again in southern Baghdad. In southwestern Baghdad, a third American was killed when a combat patrol was attacked with small arms fire. Two American soldiers were killed on Saturday in Fallujah. Also, another soldier died in a non-hostile accident in Fallujah on Saturday. Ministers loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr were ordered by the Shi’ite cleric to quit the alliance government in protest over Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's refusal to set a U.S. troop withdrawal timetable. ...http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=10823

Just 1.3 percent of imported fish, vegetables, fruit and other foods are inspected — yet those government inspections regularly reveal food unfit for human consumption.Frozen catfish from China, beans from Belgium, jalapenos from Peru, blackberries from Guatemala, baked goods from Canada, India and the Philippines — the list of tainted food detained at the border by the Food & Drug Administration stretches on.Add to that the contaminated Chinese wheat gluten that poisoned cats and dogs nationwide and led to a massive pet food recall, and you’ve got a real international pickle.Does the United States have the wherewithal to ensure the food it imports is safe?Food safety experts say no....http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2007/04/16/ap/national/national.txt

Police & university authorities in Virginia were under pressure last night to explain how a man, believed to be acting alone, came to kill 2 students in a university dormitory then evade detection for more than 2 hours before massacring a further 30 people & killing himself in the deadliest mass shooting in American history. The carnage at Virginia Tech, a university with 26,000 students in a quiet country town in the south-west of the state, instilled horror & shock across the country. In the gruesome calculus of these events, it surpassed the previous bloodiest shooting of 23 people in Killeen, Texas, in 1991 & the incident that has become synonymous with America's record of mass killings, Columbine, where 12 students & a teacher died exactly 8 years ago this Friday. Adding to the stunned reaction to the sheer scale of yesterday's carnage was the revelation last night that most of the victims had died in the second shooting spree, more than 2 hours after police were first called out...http://www.guardian.co.uk/usguns/Story/0,,2058888,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Oil company ConocoPhillips (COP) and meat producer Tyson Foods (TSN) said Monday they're joining forces to produce diesel fuel for U.S. vehicles using beef, pork and poultry fat.The companies said they have collaborated over the past year on ways to combine Tyson's expertise in protein chemistry and production with ConocoPhillips' processing and marketing knowledge to introduce a renewable diesel fuel with lower carbon emissions than petroleum-based fuels.ConocoPhillips planned to spend about $100 million over several years to produce the fuel, CEO Jim Mulva said at a news conference. It hopes to introduce the fuel at service stations in the Midwest in the fourth quarter of this year....http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-04-16-conoco-tyson-fat-biodiesel_N.htm?csp=34